Secret Six or Young Injustice
by ZeeMastermind
Summary: The Light had another solution to the Young Justice team. In 2012, they formed a team of six young villainous operatives: Jinx, Piper, Scandal, Trickster, Red X, and Red Hood. Due to the efforts of Dick Grayson, the team quickly failed and disbanded. But now, in 2014, Red Hood seeks to start the team again- outside of the Light. Rated T for swearing/violence.
1. Chapter 1

Trickster decided to use this as an opportunity to drink underage, the heartless bastard.

"Oh, come on!" he said to the poor bartender, "It's been a really hard week."

The bartender had grown jaded at this point to the Rogues. They were treated like every other customer who dared walk into the Keystone Saloon. But, if they had no ID...

"James, I said no. You can have a soda, but until you turn 21, it's Rogue policy for no underage drinking, and you know it. _I'm_ not going to get on Len's bad side." Yeah, this bartender sure liked to hear himself talk. He was a blonde, somewhat attractive, and worked weekend mornings, usually. He said he had a couple other jobs.

I decided to step in, in any case. The bartender may as well have known then, and I needed to say it, "Rogue policy's out the window. Leonard disbanded us last night."

"Wha- really?"

And James thought I was defending his case, "You see? You can give me a drink!"

"You still need ID," I pointed out.

"I have seven. All are twenty-one-plus." I suppose I walked into that one.

"It's still unhealthy."

"Why'd he disband?" I suppose the bartender was worried about his career, if us Rogues stopped coming here.

I looked at Trickster for a little bit, to see how he was coping. The juvenile anger he had made his shell into was chipped away, and he was serious.

We both remembered walking into that warehouse, the Golden Glider frozen by the chump she was using to get back at Cold for whatever fight they'd gotten into. Needless to say, Leonard Snart the ice-heart said nothing to us. Not until he got back to base and yelled at us for a while. And then, he disbanded the Rogues. It went too far that time.

"Lisa was killed," I finally told the bartender.

He got a funny look on his face. I suppose he must've met Lisa before, the way his heart slowed. "Oh." he said. All he could say.

The front door to the saloon jingled. The man with the red hood and the black biker jacket walked in.

"Well, there's an old sight," I said. No kidding.

"Hartley. James." Red Hood was curt as ever. He took a seat at the bar, to my left.

Trickster was a little less jaded, as usual, "Red? Haven't seen you since the Not-So-Secret Six disbanded."

Red Hood asked the bartender for water, then explained, "Yeah, that's what I'm here about."

Now, there's a tricky subject to talk about. The saloon was empty except for the three of us, but I still had to be careful about my wording if I was to talk of the Light in public, "Hm. Is that-one-group coerce-"

"No, no," he said quickly. His heart didn't change its pace, so my fears were settled. In any case, the Light wasn't holding anything over his head this time. Hopefully, that meant they wouldn't be threatening the rest of us.

"Don't tell me _you're_ thinking of starting it up again?" said Trickster, right on the nose. Kid may be childish, but he can read intentions like no other. Probably comes with the whole lying-about-everything territory.

The bartender handed Red Hood a water, and he continued, "Yes, I am. You got anything better to do?"

Oh, this jerk had heard about it. I looked at Trickster, and he shrugged. I guess he didn't mind getting the band back together, and I could use the support in this game. "I suppose we don't."

Red Hood stood up. He never liked to hang around and just banter. Whatever. "Great, I'll see you at the old HQ."

Smarmy bastard. Not like the Rogues are any less cordial, but at least when they're insulting you, you can tell they care.

"So, uh..." said the bartender, totally confused, "Which Rogue was that?"

Idiot.

* * *

Father was going through brawler techniques again. If I fought like a brawler, he'd probably just cry. However, most people in the business are brawlers, and it's only when you're going up against someone like the Bats that technique truly matters.

Not that it mattered, I still couldn't land a hit. I extended my leg out fully at his face, and he dodged before I could recoil it. He grabbed it and twisted it, flipping me onto the mat again. It didn't hurt to someone like me, it was just getting annoying.

He helped me up, "Your form was good, Scandal, but you need to work on your agility." he began to lecture. "Don't worry so much about building up strength."

"But father, I have the capability for that kind of strength."

"No. With women, speed and agility are key in combat." Well. I suppose I should be lucky I was able to wear him down on that issue enough for combat training in the first place. I suppose I couldn't expect much social liberalism from a father born when dinosaurs walked the Earth.

Maybe I was exaggerating a little, but it still cut deep when he'd play the sex card like that.

Before I could take the bait and get into an argument with my father, the man with the red hood and the black biker jacket walked into our gym, escorted by one of father's servants. A figure from a time where making my father proud was the only important thing in my life. Still, he was a good leader.

"Father, I'll need to take this."

"Well... Ok. I suppose this is more important." He was probably thinking more along the lines of the next heir to the Savage dynasty than my social life. Whatever.

Red Hood and I went downstairs to the parlor room. Thankfully, I didn't see any of father's servants listening in, but I doubt there weren't any.

"What's this about, Red?"

"I'm starting up the Secret Six again." Well, now. I suppose the emphasis there was on the "I'm."

"Not the Light?"

"No. The Light won't be involved in any of it, I promise."

"Hm."

"Well, is there anything you'd rather be doing?"

"No. I can be in."

"Good. Come to the old HQ as soon as you can." Translation: As soon as you can get Vandal and the rest of the Light from following you there.

Red Hood left shortly after. The rest of my summer didn't seem so bad after all.

* * *

Lights and a crowd. These elements of the classic bank robbery were often overlooked, or avoided by other supervillains. But not by me. That's not how the Fearsome Five rolled.

Of course, it would be much better if I had had the Fearsome Five at my back instead of the lman with the red hood and the black biker jacket. Good luck had never been my thing.

We were in a fight with Animal Man then. Well, more like retreating while Red Hood gabbed in my ear.

"So, Jinx."

"Yeah?" I said, throwing down some magic at Animal Man's feet. It cracked the pavement, got his foot stuck in it.

He used the powers of a snake or whatever to slither out, but it bought us another ten second lead. "I've been thinking of starting up the Secret Six again."

"I was wondering why you joined in last minute."

"Well," he said, shooting at Animal Man's legs. Cripes, aim at the chest, man, "It was either this or talk to you when you were behind bars."

"Wow. Not much faith in your old teammate, huh?"

"Not much faith in a Jinx without friends to support her. So what do you say?"

I chose this moment to use the oft overlooked elements of the classic bank robbery. I zapped a light pole and it started falling towards a crowd. Animal Man had to stop to save them, and we were able to go down into the sewers, no sweat.

You'd think a gal all dressed up in pink and purple would use sewers as a last resort. But in this life, sewer-stink was a preferable option.

"Yeah," I said, "I could use the money."

Oh, he had no idea how much I needed it.


	2. Chapter 2

The old HQ was this dreary little office building in Central City. Although originally it was owned by LexCorp, I had gotten ahold of the deed. With luck, the Light simply wouldn't notice where we had taken up residence. But really, Jinx wasn't the only member with bad luck.

I cleaned up the area a reasonable amount. There was some clutter, but I didn't expect anything to stay clean, so I made the bare adjustments to the rooms to make them livable. I sent them the date and time of the meeting, that afternoon, via an encrypted text, and \the four of them confirmed they would be arriving. Until they came, I would have time to work on getting the asset to work on the HQ's computer.

Trickster and the Pied Piper were the first to arrive, exactly on time. Timing was everything if you're fighting a speedster. Add in their general obliviousness to common social behavior, and you can count on them to never be late. I asked Hartley Rathaway (The Pied Piper) about a bruise on his forehead, but he didn't want to talk about it.

Trickster helped himself to the fridge, "Hey, there's chocolate ice cream!"

"James, I think that was in there when we _left_ the Secret Six!" exclaimed Piper.

"...So?"

"It's probably bad!"

"Chocolate ice cream is never bad!"

"...I don't even _know_ with you, Tricks."

"I don't expect mere mortals like you to comprehend my genius."

My inquiry about Piper's bruise was answered when he began banging his head against the wall, wallowing in indignity.

The doofus-duo ended their scene when Jinx came in.

"Jinx!" shouted Trickster in glee. He abandoned the tub of ice cream into Hartley's horrified hands to rush over towards Jinx.

Trickster was on the verge of tackle-hugging her when Jinx reflexively tripped him with her powers. He skidded on his stomach to a stop a few feet past her.

"Missed you too, JJ," said Jinx, grimacing slightly.

Trickster propped himself up on his hands to look at her, "Yeah! We haven't been on a date in, like, forever!"

"That's because you're three years younger than me and can't handle a mature relationship."

"Trickster doesn't know the meaning of the word 'mature,' " I interjected.

"Darn straight!" said Trickster.

"James, you're a villain," said Hartley, "You're allowed to swear."

"Yeah, but think about the children, Harts. WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN, HARTS!?"

"James-" Piper started, only to be interrupted when James broke down into mock sobbing.

It had already degenerated this far, and I still had two people left to come to the meeting. Great. Scandal finally showed up, and wisely edged her way around the chaos that was the Trickster to check in with me.

"Well, Jason, it's just like old times," she said, "Pipes and Jinx babysitting Trickster while you ignore everything to do research on your computer."

I grunted, "While you looked upon everything in disdain, of course."

"Of course. Or trying to intervene in one of your's and Red X's power struggles."

"Gah. Please don't bring up that event today, I want this team to work."

The team had broken up originally only a year after it had formed. Part of it had to do with me outing myself as a criminal to Bruce. And by outing myself, I mean kidnapping the Joker and trying to get Batman to shoot one of us. December 2012 was not my finest month.

But the team ultimately had cracked when Red X betrayed us. Dick had infiltrated the team since the start, posing as a criminal who was bribed by Ocean Master into joining. It turned out he actually was, but it was because of our distrust of that fact that we unmasked him. With the exception of Scandal, whose connection to the Light was obvious, the rest of us had been threatened into joining the Secret Six.

Jinx's Fearsome Five were captured.

The Pied Piper's parents were threatened.

Ra's knew my identity.

And Trickster's birth name, Giovanni Giueseppi, had been uncovered. Although the Flashes already knew the name 'James Jesse,' and it was the one on all his legal forms, he felt it against principle to allow his "stage name" to be usurped. Idiot.

"Well, we're all here," said Jinx. The teen-Rogues had calmed down at this point, "Unless you were planning on inviting Robin to the party..."

"He's Nightwing now, but I'm not _that_ desperate for a team of six."

"So what's the name going to be then?" asked Piper.

"Maybe we should be the Fabulous Five, in honor of Piper and Scandal," joked the Trickster.

"Dude!"

"Wha-at?"

"That's not cool. You're extending a stereotype of the gay community that results in society misunderstanding that we're people, too."

"Hey, I pick on everyone equally."

"Just cut the jokes or I snap your neck," said Scandal.

Before this situation could devolve once more, I stepped in, "We're not changing the name."

"We probably should," said Trickster, "Kid Flash would point out the counting error immediately."

"There's going to be six members."

"What? Who?" they all asked, flabbergasted.

I broke the ice, "Red X."

With the looks they gave me, I was suddenly able to empathize with Trickster.

* * *

I'm never a team player, but with the expected profit from this team Red Hood promised, I decided I would be one. After all, he had told me, anyone with the skills to steal a suit from a bat would be a welcome asset to the team.

Even from that sad excuse of a sidekick, he muttered under his breath. Oh, yes. Red Hood was definitely a Gotham villain, living and breathing, if he had a grudge like that. I suppose technically I was a Gotham villain, too. Bah, I was just a thief, no grudges attatched. Oh my.

I waited a few hours after the time he sent me for the meeting before teleporting into the middle of Red Hood's secret lair. Just a few feet in front of Red Hood.

There were four chumps shouting at him, but they stopped when they saw me, aghast. So much for Red Hood's leadership skills. In any case, the lot of them looked like they had joined to avenge their murdered sense of fashion.

There was a kid in a dark green cape, with a hood no less. He had a glass visor covering his eyes, and he was wearing what looked like teal chainmail. Taking into account the flute he had- which was in a sheath, no less- he was now forever deemed the orchestra geek from Hell.

Next to him was a Joker copycat. Yellow and blue EVERYWHERE. Oh, memories. He was about two feet taller than the green kid, but looked younger.

A girl with a black tank-top, khakis, and tatoo sleeves seemed to have confused herself with Lara Croft. Still, she looked like she could rip me in two.

And finally, there was a chick with medium skin and _very_ pink ponytails sticking out of her head. Her eyes were pulsing with some sort of purple electricity. I took a step away from that one, scary.

"You couldn't have used-" Red started to snark at me, but was interrupted when his loyal teammates blasted me through a wall with magic, a right cross, sonics, and I believe a few yo-yos. Oh dear.

"Hey. HEY!" I shouted, before launching an array of sticky-X's at them. At least, I think they were sticky-X's. "I'm on your team."

"Well then, I suppose you wouldn't mind taking off your mask?" asked the orchestra geek frm Hell. His voice was a bit lyrical, a tenor.

Red Hood intervened, "I can vouch for the new Red X's identity."

...

What?

I hope that was a bluff. In any case, the team had settled down, based on the fact that I hadn't broken another wall.

"This is going to end in disaster," said Lara Croft.

Sister, you had no idea.


End file.
